All was not ended, even here.  For some weeks our conjuror continued to be the hero of every pulpit round about.  He was cited as a shining light, denounced as a vessel of wrath, praised, pitied and calumniated according to the creed and temper of each declaimer.  At length the controversy languished, died a natural death, and became “alms for oblivion.”

Laid to rest under a young willow, in a quiet corner, with a plain stone at his head, the little Frenchman was himself in course of time forgotten:—­

     “Alas!  Poor Yorick!”

* * * * *

CHAPTER VI.

POLONIUS TO LAERTES.

Years went by.  I studied; outgrew my jackets; became a young man.  It was time, in short, that I walked the hospitals, and passed my examination.

I had spoken to my father more than once upon the subject—­spoken earnestly and urgently, as one who felt the necessity and justice of his appeal.  But he put me off from time to time; persisted in looking upon me as a boy long after I had become acquainted with the penalties of the razor; and counselled me to be patient, till patience was well-nigh exhausted.  The result of this treatment was that I became miserable and discontented; spent whole days wandering about the woods; and degenerated into a creature half idler and half misanthrope.  I had never loved the profession of medicine.  I should never have chosen it had I been free to follow my own inclinations:  but having diligently fitted myself to enter it with credit, I felt that my father wronged me in this delay; and I felt it perhaps all the more bitterly because my labor had been none of love.  Happily for me, however, he saw his error before it was too late, and repaired it generously.

“Basil,” said he, beckoning me one morning into the consulting-room, “I want to speak to you.”

I obeyed sullenly, and stood leaning up against the window, with my hands in my pockets.

“You’ve been worrying me, Basil, more than enough these last few months,” he said, rummaging among his papers, and speaking in a low, constrained voice.  “I don’t choose to be worried any longer.  It is time you walked the hospitals, and—­you may go.”

“To London, sir?”

“No.  I don’t intend you to go to London.”

“To Edinburgh, then, I suppose,” said I, in a tone of disappointment.

“Nor to Edinburgh.  You shall go to Paris.”

“To Paris!”

“Yes—­the French surgeons are the most skilful in the world, and Cheron will do everything for you.  I know no eminent man in London from whom I should choose to ask a favor; and Cheron is one of my oldest friends—­nay, the oldest friend I have in the world.  If you have but two ounces of brains, he will make a clever man of you.  Under him you will study French practice; walk the hospitals of Paris; acquire the language and, I hope, some of the polish of the French people.  Are you satisfied?”